The 1988 Dodgers: Reliving the Championship Season

When most baseball fans think back to the 1988 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics, they probably remember Kirk Gibson’s dramatic home run off Dennis Eckersley, Orel Hershiser’s shutout streak and dominant postseason pitching that got them there, or perhaps the fact that it remains, to this day, the last World Championship for the Dodgers. In The 1988 Dodgers: Reliving the Championship Season, K. P. Wee tells the story of this incredible year. More than just Gibson or Hershiser, the team’s success came from a true collective effort in which all 25 players on the roster made significant contributions throughout the season. Featuring dozens of interviews with players—including those lesser-known Dodgers who were just as important to the team as the stars—coaches, scouts, and general manager Fred Claire, Wee provides a refreshing view of the 1988 season, sharing personal stories and little-known anecdotes told to him by the players and staff. The players also reflect on the importance of the entire team that season, their careers following the World Championship, and life after baseball, giving readers a complete inside look at a season and team to remember.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction Lineup Part One: The 1988 Season 1: Spring Training ’88: The Gibson-Orosco Incident 2: The Stuntmen of L.A. 3: The Forgotten Guys 4: Regular-Season Memories 5: Hershiser’s Consecutive Scoreless Innings Streak Part Two: The Mets Series 6: Mets Series Moments: More Mets Magic 7: Scioscia’s Forgotten Homer—and the Forgotten Holton 8: Tommy the Motivational Leader Part Three: The A’s Series 9: Gibson’s Home Run 10: Scout’s Honor: The Dodgers Scouts Come Through 11: A’s Series Moments 12: Claire the Architect Part Four: After 1988 13: Saying Goodbye to L.A. 14: Gone Too Soon: The Forgotten Reliever and All-Star Infielder 15: Talking Rings & What ’88 Means 16: Where Are They Now? Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index About the Author

About the Author :
K. P. Wee is the author of multiple sports books, including Tom Candiotti: A Life of Knuckleballs (2014), The End of the Montreal Jinx: Boston’s Short-Lived Glory in the Historic Bruins-Canadiens Rivalry (2015), and Don’t Blame the Knuckleballer: Baseball Legends, Myths, and Stories (2015). He was a media relations assistant for the Vancouver Canadians Baseball Club and hosted a radio show every week in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.

Review :
Any book that details perhaps the unlikeliest World Series winner ever has to make the oft-told pit stops: the eye-black incident, Orel Hershiser’s scoreless innings streak, Mike Scioscia’s home run off Dwight Gooden and the upset of the Mets in the NLCS, Bob Costas’ galvanizing remarks, Kirk Gibson’s limping blast off Dennis Eckersley, and Hershiser’s final complete game masterpiece to clinch it. Writing more as a judicious chronicler of baseball history than a fan, Wee instead paints a much broader picture of a resourceful team that owed its triumph down to the last man, rather than just a string of miracles. . . . The key to the book’s freshness is that Wee chooses to emphasize the lesser-known players and perspectives of 1988. Too many fans and historians tend to frame the team as Hershiser, Gibson and a coterie of mediocre misfits, a propensity the book acknowledges. Instead, the season is recounted through the eyes of underappreciated players, scouts, coaches, and sportswriters. Every contribution, no matter how small, is emphasized in great detail. The interviews are a joy to read, especially to get the feeling of what the season meant (and still means) to the men who aren’t celebrated enough for it. . . . By drawing on a wide variety of player, coach and executive interviews, Wee also provides different perspectives on moments many believe are known forwards and backwards. . . . Another of the book’s eminent strengths is that Wee provides ample contextual history at almost every juncture. He traces individual player moments even years before they were on the Dodgers to the very at-bat, and makes frequent comparisons to other World Series moments. . . . With its plethora of detailed recollections, meticulous accuracy and moving remembrance for a once-in-history team, The 1988 Dodgers: Reliving the Championship Season is a must for the library of not only every Dodgers fan, but every baseball fan period. Wee provides a refreshing view of the 1988 season through dozens of interviews with players, coaches, scouts, and general manager Fred Claire, who shared personal stories and little-known anecdotes told to him by the players and staff. . . . 30 years later, the players also reflect their careers following the World Championship, and life after baseball, giving readers a complete inside look at a season and team to remember. Orel Hershiser IV…Kirk Gibson…the irrepressible Tom LaSorda…you know all about them. But Rick Dempsey, Mickey Hatcher, and Danny Heep—aka “The Stuntmen”—not so much. Now, thanks to K. P. Wee’s The 1988 Dodgers: Reliving the Championship Season, you will. This is the story of a very improbable and, yes, lovable bunch, the last LA Dodger squad to win a championship. K. P. Wee brought back great memories for every Dodgers fan. This book is very informative and gives fantastic insight by interviewing the players and general manager Fred Claire. I highly recommend this book for all baseball fans! With thorough input from a variety of sources—star players, scouts, a third-string catcher, bat boys, broadcasters—Wee takes the reader on a candid journey through the Los Angeles Dodgers' 1988 season. It's a must-read for hardcore fans, and for anyone whose memories have been reduced to Orel Hershiser's scoreless-inning streak and Kirk Gibson's home run. The lost moments, colorful characters, and behind-the-scenes drama all come alive. The 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers were overloaded with big, bold personalities, with the likes of Kirk Gibson, Rick Dempsey, Mickey Hatcher, Jesse Orosco and, of course, manager Tommy Lasorda. K. P. Wee makes you feel like you have snuck into a corner stall in their clubhouse for their magical run to the World Series.